the june garden

robin's nest in the blackberries 

kale & lettuce 

potatoes 

peony poppy 

annabelle hydrangeas 

balloon flowers 

red inchelium garlic 

  oakleaf hydrangea

 chamomile

bush beans

 baby wren ~ struggling to fly but eventually flew away

caribou russet potatoes

zinnia

Harvest Total thru June ~ 157 lbs.

Herbs ~ 3 lbs.
Lemon Balm, Chamomile, Mint, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, Oregano, Basil & Chives

Fruit ~ 86 lbs.
Strawberries

Vegetables ~ 68 lbs.
Kale, Lettuce, Endive, Spinach (6 lbs.), Cosmic Purple and Chantenay Carrots (19 1/2 lbs.), Sweet Peppers (1 1/2 lbs.), Japanese Long and Dutch Yellow Cucumbers (5 lbs.), Bush Beans (3 lbs.), Forum Onions (23 lbs.), Caribou Russet Potatoes (10 lbs.)

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Thanks to the amazing strawberry harvest our numbers for the year are already high (to us). We enjoy fresh vegetables everyday which is, of course, tasty and healthy. My children enjoy most of what we grow. They look forward to lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, carrots, green beans, squash, tomatoes, potatoes (beets can be a struggle!) and I look on this as a success. Vegetables are so healthy and I know it's difficult for children (and adults) to acquire a taste for them, so I'm thankful that my children have become used to having them in their diet. I've also dehydrated quite an amount of herbs (although 3 pounds doesn't sound like a lot, for herbs it is), but will continue on as I have time. 

Although I hop out to the garden to cut flowers and gather produce each  morning, my main time to weed and maintain order is on Saturday mornings. My weekday mornings have been consumed by dive team for my son, which is a new adventure for him and so fun for our family to enjoy. However, this means I really can't let myself go in the garden during the weekday mornings (or we'd never make it to practice) and our afternoons are hot, sunny and many times muggy. So I'm enjoying my Saturday morning immersion in the garden.

Since we use raised beds the effort really is minimal, and the chores are usually weeding, watering (as needed), tying up vines (cucumbers, tomatoes), harvesting and amending the soil (with egg shells, coffee grounds and compost). The pests that have arrived are Japanese beetles, cabbage moths and cucumber beetles so as we have opportunity we are on the hunt for those. We do not use sprays so this is definitely a labor of love. Here's hoping squash beetles don't arrive too soon ~ we haven't seen one yet!

We are enjoying many blooms, too, which just makes the yard so beautiful and bright. Somehow my green and white zinnia's are blooming pink here and there, and it's just the loveliest shade so that has been fun. I've been enjoying cutting small bouquets for the house usually featuring blooms from butterfly bush, zinnias, oregano, chamomile, annabelle hydrangea's and peony poppies.  

June is usually an "easy" harvest month and July should bring the bounty of squash, beets, kohlrabi (new to us!), tomatoes, potatoes (so far I've harvested one bed out of six) and even more carrots, cucumbers and peppers. There will be much more work to do in this next month and so it's convenient that my son's dive season is coming to a close.